


Falling Nightmare

by Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener



Series: Bad Romance [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Feels, Intersex Loki, Lols, Lots of it, M/M, Pampering, Thor didn't know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 15:08:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7320184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener/pseuds/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unexpected facts of life are revealed, painful truths told, and actions that shouldn’t happen are taken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling Nightmare

Hammer and staff slammed against one another, spitting out sparks of magic like fireworks. “Will you listen for once, you blond oaf?”  
“All that falls from your tongue are lies, Loki!”

This time, the Horned Prince really wasn’t involved in whatever crusade the Avengers were involved in. He needed an important component for a spell. Unfortunately, the Witching Flower wasn’t currently in bloom in Jotunheim, which left him with its Midgard counterpart.

It had been his fool part not to investigate before making his way to the pleasantly cold land known as Scotland, and if his need for the potion wasn’t so dire he wouldn’t have rushed in head first like a certain blond Asgardian. His haste had brought this misfortune on his head.

Something as simple as losing track of time was about to cost him more than he liked. You’d think he would have learned from previous experience in his younger years.

Loki gritted his teeth hard as he was sent flying back by Thor’s superior strength. Going head to head was never the answer when his brother was this wound up. His anger didn’t seem directly related to his mission, and the brunet couldn’t remember doing anything in recent memory to make the Thunderer come after him like this.

He managed to rebound off of a ruin’s crumbling wall, then rolled himself behind an old fountain. Without stopping, he stayed low to the floor and made his way deeper into the dilapidated castle that had become their battleground. He just needed to get enough flowers for his work then he would be gone and away from the mad blond.

Thor bounded into the broken fort, hot on Loki’s tail. The dreams of their intimate past were still engraved on his mind, and they spurred him on when he found his little brother in the territory of Hydra’s hidden base. It made the other male’s betrayals, small and large, feel fresh as when they had been committed.

“Don’t hide from me, brother! Come out and fight!” It was infuriating. It wasn’t like Loki to simply run. When he ran it was with purpose, to set a trap, but he could sense no such intention. The green clad man’s goal was only to get away.  
It was baffling.

Loki had managed to double-back on Thor and would have successfully slipped away if not for a sudden pain in his lower abdomen. He held back his voice, but his foot came down too heavily on the dry earth and the resulting sound alerted the Thunder God to his location.

“Loki!” The blond came flying down from the sky, Mjolnir held high above his head.

The brunet cursed and rolled away since he was already bent over, then he deflected Thor’s swing as the man landed and came at him again. The force was enough to throw him off-balance while he was in such an awkward position. The breath was knocked from his lungs as he was smashed into the ground, the staff in both his hands the only thing keeping the thunder god at bay. More sparks of magic flared out from where their weapons were grinding against each other.

“You damnable rock troll! Listen to me!” Before Loki could say more, another shooting pain wracked through his belly. For a moment his strength waned, and it gave Thor the opening he needed to knock the staff away like a twig.

Mjolnir slammed into the ground by his ear, and he froze in healthy fear. Then powerful hands pinned his wrists above his head.

“I am not amused,” Loki sneered. His flesh was flushed from their fighting and his usually perfect hair hung out below his helmet in a disheveled mess.  
“Neither am I, brother.”

Then the bigger male dove down and captured his lips in a fierce kiss that threatened to burn his mouth from his face. “Mm!” Thor pushed his tongue inside, forcing a deeper kiss on the other man. Loki felt himself heating up despite the cold all-around them. He managed to bite Thor’s lower lip, breaking their contact for a second. “Get off! I’m not your whore!”

Blue eyes glared down into green. “You are not. You are my lover who I exchanged vows with.”

Loki stared up at him in disbelief. Why was he taking that stance now of all times?

Thor wasn’t bewitched. He would have been able to sense the magic for such an enchantment, and he knew he hadn’t placed such a thing on the blond.  
And why hadn’t he? That was an ingenious plan to control him.

But back to the matter at hand. “What?”

“I admit fault in enabling you to travel this dark path you tread, brother, but return to my side and I will speak with the All-Father to grant you forgiveness.” The Thunderer was serious, his gaze and the hands still holding Loki in place said that much.

“You dare think I need his approval?” Loki snarled. “You mock me with an offer to be your on-call wench?”  
“You were my lover and you stood as my equal,” Thor argued.  
“Ha! A laugh! I was never seen as your equal, o’ favored son,” the brunet scoffed. With flexibility the golden Asgardian never had, Loki maneuvered his legs between them and kicked Thor off. Sending him flying over one of the decaying walls.

The brunet scrambled to his feet then dove for his staff, and was promptly tackled by Thor. At the same time they hit the ground with him on the bottom, another searing pain tore through Loki’s belly. “Ngh!” His breath was caught in his throat and his vision swam.

Loki needed the Witch’s Flower. The only other choice to make the pain go away was not an option.

“Brother? Brother what ails you?” Thor knew well that he hadn’t given the other man any injuries during their fight, perhaps a few scrapes at most. However, his concern was shoved away by the irritated Jotun.  
“Off with you! My presence here has nothing to do with you or your pet humans!”  
“Tell me your reasons for being here and I will believe you, Loki.”

The god of mischief paused, confused and suspicious of Thor’s sudden change of heart. Or perhaps it wasn’t so sudden. It had been a while since they had encountered one another, and unlike himself, his fool brother seemed to constantly think of how to “fix” him. And judging from that kiss, he was sharing blood with his second head.

Loki gritted his teeth and heaved himself back onto his feet, snatching up his staff at the same time. “They are not reasons you’d wish to hear. Now away! Go back to whatever you were doing!” The pain was throbbing steadily now, and it wasn’t helping his temper. When Thor stepped in front of him, it was an automatic reaction to swing the business end of his staff at that too handsome face. He growled when the attack was stopped by Mjolnir.  
“I will hear them, brother.”

The smaller god winced at a particularly sharp throb that radiated through his lower body. He wasn’t in any shape to fight, and the longer he was held up the more likely was the chance of any unwanted accidents occurring if the next phase was allowed to begin. By that point he wouldn’t be capable of doing much of anything for several hours.

The golden Asgardian pulled himself up to his full height. “Brother, I insist you come with me. You are obviously not well.”  
“I’ll be well enough once you leave,” Loki spat.  
“Nay, brother. I will not leave you alone, not this time.”

Loki was tempted to scream his frustration, but that wouldn’t have done anything productive. He felt his eye tick as he glared at the hammer-wielding do-gooder. There had to be a way to either be rid of him, or to make the stupid bastard help him. He mentally pursed his lips at the thought. Perhaps a dash of the truth would serve him well here.

“I need the Witching Flower. There’s a crop of it in that direction.” He pointed with his staff the way he had originally been heading when Thor got the drop on him.  
“The Witching Flower? Is that not for healing? Then you are injured after all, Loki?”  
“In a manner of speaking,” he grumbled. He cleared his throat before talking aloud. “Assist me in finding it and I will explain, brother.”  
“Can I trust your words, or do you seek to deceive me yet again?”

Loki chuckled. “That’s your call to make, o’ mighty Thor,” he said with a mocking, sing-song tone. “I promise this time I speak truth. I seek the Witching Flower for healing.”

Thor considered his brother’s claim for a long, silent moment. “Lead the way.”

They marched back through the ruins and towards a distant hill. Loki didn’t so much as make a funny move. Once over the hill a small field of the pink and purple flowers could easily be seen. “I need several handfuls.” Loki snapped his fingers and a basket appeared. “Fill it to the top.”  
“Is it that great of an injury?”  
“It’s a lingering problem and it will take time to go away.”

With Thor’s help, which was more useful than he wanted to admit since he was having issues with bending, the basket was soon packed.

“The task is done,” the Thunderer pointed out. “Now you will explain.”  
“Abdominal pains, likely to last around, oh say ten days.” The trickster picked up the basket then made it disappear.  
“And?” The blond crossed his arms and sharpened his gaze.  
“And what? That’s the problem I’m seeking to remedy.”  
“And how did the problem occur?” Thor demanded.  
“Biologically.” That was all the cryptic answer the brunet planned to give, and he had kept his word. He had told only the truth. “On my way I shall now be. Return to your pets, brother.”

And it would have been an elegant exit if his body hadn’t betrayed him just then.

Loki slammed his staff into the ground to keep himself upright as a sudden deluge of pain clawed his insides. It was hitting him fast and hard this time, for what reason he had no idea. It hadn’t been this bad since he was young and still under Thor’s influence. Another wave of tearing agony, then he tasted blood on his tongue from biting into his cheeks.  
There was no way that busybody Thor missed this.

“Loki!”

Yeah, he noticed.

Thick arms wrapped around him and lifted him off his feet, much to his chagrin. “Put me down!”  
“Nay,” Thor refused, “I’m taking you to the room of medicines.”  
“You have one of your stupid missions, do you not? Go do that!”  
“It was scouting only, and I received word that the mission was completed,” Thor explained with his broad grin in place. Loki responded by shoving a hand against the blonde’s face and pushing away while wiggling around in his struggle to escape.  
“Let go! Let go! Let go!” He didn’t care if he sounded like a petulant child, he wanted to leave. But Thor refused to relinquish his hold.  
“There’s no sense in fighting, brother, you’re coming with me!”  
“See yourself to Hel, you Surtur-cursed…!”

The god of mischief bit his tongue when again the daggers of agony sliced through his belly.

Thor took the chance to shift his hold on Loki so his right hand was free to wield Mjolnir, spinning it and taking flight. Loki cursed but stopped fighting. The pulsing and rolling pains could disrupt his teleport. The last thing he needed to do was to end up in worse enemy territory than the Avenger Tower.

~*~

“Sir, Thor has landed on the terrace. He’s brought company,” announced JARVIS.  
“What kind of company?” Tony questioned as he mixed himself a cocktail.  
“It’s Loki.”

Tony’s brows rose up to his hairline. “In what condition?”  
“My preliminary scans show physical distress on the part of our guest. It would explain why Thor is carrying him like a baby.”  
“This I have got to see. Make sure to film this in 3D, JARVIS.”  
“Certainly, sir.”

Loki had given up even the verbal fight with Thor in order to concentrate on bearing the pain ripping through his lower body. “Fine! Take me to this room of medicines where I can complete my business then leave!” His temper was growing shorter by the moment. He wondered briefly if he could headbutt his idiot brother into submission, but he just as quickly dismissed the idea as he knew Thor to have an abnormally thick skull. And he didn’t want to dent his stylish helmet. Gold was so hard to buff out.

“We will see, Loki. I am still unsatisfied with your earlier answers.”  
“Take your sniveling complaints to the All-Mother,” he growled.  
“She misses you. You should go see her.”  
“Then drop me off with her,” Loki demanded. 

The terrace doors were thrown open for the grand entrance of one Tony Stark. “Thor, babe! You brought me a present! But you know I don’t do green.”  
“I am seeing my brother to the room of medicines,” Thor declared.  
“Oh? Why?” Tony asked before sipping his cocktail. “Since when did Loki have Avengers Health Insurance, and does he have his copay?”

Loki, completely horrified by the embarrassing situation, decided that he was going to cross his arms and pout in silence. There was more dignity in the act than further fighting. Thor had made up his mind, and the Horned Prince couldn’t do much but put up with the disgrace for now.

“What is copay?” Thor questioned. “Is it something I can do for him?” Loki huffed and elbowed the blond on the chest.  
“Just take me to the medical bay already. You’re wasting my time.” The dark god didn’t like how intense Iron Man’s stare was, but he was more concerned when his expression suddenly changed to a big smile.  
“Yeah, sure. Go do that, Thor. We’ll give him a full medical scan and everything. Avenger’s Health Insurance pulls out all the stops.”  
“Your generosity is worthy of Asgard!”

“No!” Loki protested vehemently. “No scans!”

Thor didn’t seem to be listening as he jogged inside of the building, his hold not loosening even a little. Tony followed at a more sedated pace.

“JARVIS, prepare the full body scan for our patient. Don’t miss the smallest detail.”

The thunder god laid Loki down on the medical bed. Normally, the green-clad man would have attempted his escape at that moment, but instead he curled in on his belly. The pain had reached the point where he was overheating and sweating in excess. He couldn’t even really protest when Thor removed his helmet in an attempt to make him more comfortable.

All around him, Loki could hear the machinery. He growled in his pained anger. “No scans, you cursed—NNH!” There was light around him in various colors. While he wasn’t experienced with the specific technology being utilized, he knew enough that the JARVIS AI was scanning him despite his protests. “I’ll kill all of you!” he hissed.  
“I’m certain that you can be helped here, brother.”  
“I’ll pull out your tongue and shove it down your ear!”

Thor was taken aback by the strange threat. “You are definitely not well, Loki.”

“How’s our special snowflake?” Tony inquired once he entered the medical bay.  
“He speaks nonsense even for him,” the blond responded.  
“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Scans are complete, sir,” announced JARVIS.  
“I’ll see them in the other room.” Stark trotted to the second room to get a look at the scans in full 3D. “Let’s see what makes our favorite shapeshifter tick.” Blue eyes narrowed as soon as he saw the compiled images and information. “Scan him again.”  
“Yes, sir.”

When the new scans came in, the information hadn’t changed. “Do a diagnosis on the scanning equipment.”  
“Yes, sir.”

As Tony waited the few minutes for the diagnosis to complete, he kept staring at what was in front of him. These readings had to be wrong.

He could accept Loki having two sets of reproductive organs, being an alien and all that. Surprising? Sure. Loki can be daddy or mommy. Weirder things had happened. It explained his mood swings.

No, the problem was what he was reading when it came to the god’s bones. More specifically, the space between them that would be the growth area.  
They said he was still a growing adolescent.

“Diagnosis completed,” stated JARVIS, breaking Tony from his line of thought. “No abnormalities detected.”

The scientist combed his fingers through his beard. “Damn.” This definitely put a different spin on the raven-haired god, or godling, it would seem. “Get Thor in here.”

“How can I help, Iron Man?” Thor’s eyes stayed on Loki, who he could see through the glass wall.  
“What do you know about Loki-boy’s physical age?”

Thor shifted his gaze to Tony, his eyes questioning. “What do you mean?”  
“I know you guys do the ageing thing differently, being ridiculously long-lived, but say compared to us humans how old is Loki?”

The blond man seemed to be stumped. “I… I was always of the impression that in age, that my brother is my peer, and I am a man in his majority.”  
“So an adult.” Tony rubbed his face and stared at the data again. “Didn’t you say he’s actually a different race? Yoyos or something?”  
“He is of Jotun stock, yes.”  
“When are they majority, Thor?”  
“I… do not know. Why are you asking me this?” The Asgardian waved a hand at the displays. “What are these saying to you? What is their claim?”

Tony really was trying to be tactful. It wasn’t his strongest ability by any stretch, but he was honestly trying. He knew the situation about Thor and Loki’s relationship was shaky, perhaps it was downright delicate.

“They say your brother is still a teenager, roughly 15 to 17 in comparison to a human of similar growth.”  
“That cannot be!”

Meanwhile, the discomfort in Loki’s belly had ebbed enough for him to uncurl. It didn’t escape him that iron head and his false brother were busy discussing something or other, and he didn’t really care what at this point. He slipped off the bed, put his helmet back on, grabbed his staff where Thor had left it against a wall, and made an attempt to leave.

“You are not authorized to depart yet,” JARVIS declared as a force field covered the room. Loki growled and pointed his staff at the door.  
“This pitiful technology can’t stop me.”

“Brother!” Thor dashed from the side room with Iron Man behind him.  
“I’m leaving,” Loki stated with poison lacing his tone. He blasted the shield with a beam of magic, making it spark and crackle.  
“Stop!” the Thunderer bellowed before grabbing Loki around the waist and gut.

An unbecoming squeak escaped Loki. His staff dropped from his hand at the shock of agony, and he tried to curl up into a ball again.

“Brother? Has the pain become worse?”

Tony analyzed the scene in front of him. He had seen Thor and Loki go at it several times, and Loki, even though half the mass of Thor, gave and took as good as it got. A little ol’ grab like that should have been nothing.

Loki yelped when Thor’s arm tightened around his lower belly. Tony’s eyes widen in realization. Abdominal pain, female reproductive parts… “Oh.” Thor looked over his shoulder at the man.  
“Oh, you say?”  
“Yeah, oh! Lie him back down!” This was turning out hell of a lot different than he had originally thought this was going to. “JARVIS, initiate Pepper’s monthly program for Loki here.”  
“Initiating pampering,” the AI responded.

Thor had Loki back on the bed. The Jotun was too busy holding himself and whimpering to do anything else but lie there.

“Explain, Stark. What ails Loki?” The blond marched up to Tony, his stance imposing. Not that it had much of an effect on him. “What could cause him such pain when I have seen him take more punishment in battle?”  
“It seems to be a form of menstruation.”  
“Men…what?”

This really wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with Thor. Tony rubbed his face with one hand. “I take it you were never given the woman’s side of the birds and the bees talk?” Stark commented as JARVIS directed his helper bots to give Loki a heating pad and some Midol.  
“Birds and bees? What does wildlife have to do with this? I do not understand!”

Tony groaned. “Baby-making, Thor. Loki’s body is preparing him for making babies as a mommy.”  
“Surely you jest,” Thor laughed. “You know well that Loki is not a woman.”

This conversation wasn’t going well.

“Seriously, Thor, buddy, what do you know about Yoyos?”  
“The proper plural would be Jotar,” he corrected before frowning firmly. “I admit to having little knowledge of them. My encounters with the frost giants have not been of learning, but of war.”

Thor turned back to check on Loki and was surprised to see the man now propped up by fluffy pillows with a cooling cloth on the back of his neck and a heating pad on his stomach. He was eating from a tray of various chocolates with Ginger Ale to wash it all down. The blonde’s brow wrinkled in confusion, he was having trouble processing such an odd scene before him. Loki did look to be in a better mood, however.

“Sir, the other Avengers have returned,” alerted JARVIS. “What should I tell them of our guest situation?”

Tony knew that conversation wasn’t going to go any better than the one with Thor. “Just tell them to come on down, JARVIS. I rather get this over with.”  
“I thought as much. I already invited them.”

Tony patted the blond Asgardian on the shoulder. “Come on, Thor, I’m going to explain the findings. I doubt your brother is going anywhere while that tray is kept full.”  
“Explaining you will do.” Thor tensed all over, his hands fisting by his sides.

“Why is Loki in our Med Bay eating chocolate?” demanded Hawkeye. “And why don’t I get expensive chocolates? Where have you been hiding them?”

Black Widow merely raised a brow at the scene before going into the second room. Captain America was trying to make sense of it much in the way Thor was. “Is he injured?”

“Hulk don’t like the puny green god,” growled the gamma giant.  
“No fighting.” The line was out of character for the business tycoon when it was concerning Loki. “My lab, my rules. Loki stays there eating chocolate, you guys come with me to see why.” Hulk roared. “The big green gets chocolate, too.”  
“Hey,” whined their bowman.  
“Everyone gets chocolate! Moving on now.”

The full team finally filed into the room where Tony had Loki’s scans up in 3D. Trays and buckets of chocolate and other delights soon followed.

Clint tilted his head while trying to make sense of the displays. “What am I looking at exactly?”  
“Loki’s insides,” answered Stark.  
“Eww!”  
“This is stupid,” complained Hulk around a mouthful of candy.

Natasha crossed her arms as she studied the displays. “Well, this is interesting.”  
“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Steve asked in a light, but serious manner. Thor’s hard gaze locked on Tony, who had actually put his drink down.

“Loki is an adolescent girl,” Tony finally announced. The Hulk laughed.  
“Yeah, we know he’s a little bitch,” Clint quipped, “but what’s with the organ show?”  
“You try my patience,” the blond Asgardian growled.  
“To be fair,” Tony continued, “he’s actually intersex. He’s suffering the girl part right now. Also, he’s still a teenager. His mood swings make so much more sense.” He paused to let that sink in. Hulk looked wholly uninterested, Black Widow seemed thoughtful, Hawkeye and Captain America wore identical expressions of shock, but Thor was angry.

“You are gravely mistaken,” Thor bellowed. He threw open the door, shattering the glass.  
“I’m billing you for that,” Tony droned.

“Loki, tell him he’s lost his senses,” the Thunderer demanded. Loki glanced away from his tray that was being dutifully kept covered with chocolates, and now cheesecake bites.  
“None of you have sense, but what do you refer to in the first place?” He was unusually compliant, but Thor didn’t take notice.  
“Stark says you are still under majority and not wholly a male!”  
“Oh stop shouting.” Loki turned his attention back to the tray as a fresh cup of hot tea was placed on it by a metal claw. He delicately picked it up and took a happy sip. Clint was taking pictures with his phone.

The Horned Prince eventually gave his attention back to his step-brother. “You know well I am Jotun. Was it really too much to go to the Hall of Books and look up what that means?”  
“Ooh, burn,” Hawkeye said with some sympathy.

Thor looked ready to throw Mjolnir. Loki rolled his eyes. “If you had minded your own business we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s your own fault.”  
“Brother!” Thor slammed a table with his fist to show his frustration, putting a deep dent in the steel. “Answer me without your games!”  
“Stop throwing a tantrum. Fine. Yes, I’m still under Jotar majority, and yes I’m one of the three sexes that can bear children. It sucks, by the way. This happens every cursed year. I doubt your tiny mind can comprehend just the pure inconvenience, let alone the rest of this blasted condition.” The whole time he continued drinking tea and eating cheesecake. It was surreal, but no one was going to break the moment between the brothers. It seemed even their resident green giant had some interest in the proceedings, and he looked like he wanted popcorn to go with his bucket of treats.

“Why did you never tell me, Loki?” Thor questioned with a stiff jaw.  
“Why would I tell you?” Loki settled back and snuggled into the pillow. Whatever pain medication he had been given was working nicely. He still had to make his potion, but he was good for now. He should stop by a pharmacy before he left Midgard.

“That makes no sense,” Thor claimed while stepping closer and throwing his hands up. “We were close then. Why did you hide it?” 

Loki snorted. “Oh please, and have your big mouth tell everyone remotely alive how your monstrosity of a brother has girl functions? I had problems enough without adding your thoughtless nature to it.”

Thor looked about to protest, but then he stopped. He couldn’t deny the accusations. He knew that he hadn’t been the most discreet in his younger years. All of Asgard knew when he had placed his claim on Loki. The number of challenges he had received afterward from Loki’s admirers attested to that.

“Enough with the soap opera,” groaned Black Widow. “If we’re not arresting him, give the guy a bottle of Midol and get him out of here.”  
“Aww, come on,” groaned Hawkeye around a mouthful of chocolate. “It was just getting really good. Even Big Green would agree.”  
“Yeah,” Hulk said around his own mouthful. “Better than As the Universe Turns.” That got him several disbelieving stares. “What? Hulk likes the song.”

Thor marched up to the side of the bed. “We will continue in private.”  
“We shall not,” Loki disagreed. “I’m feeling better, I’m going home. Unlike you, I have things to do. Very important things.” The menstruating trickster slid off the bed of pillows and stood. Thor grabbed him by the upper arm. The glare between the two could start a forest fire. Or explode a volcano. Maybe melt a planet’s core.

“Thor,” spoke Captain America, breaking the silence. “Let him go.”  
“I refuse,” the blond declared.  
“Look at him, Thor,” he demanded. “He’s not well.”

Thor did look, and he finally noticed how pale his brother had become. Loki had always been fair, the type described as so white of flesh that he appeared blue, but right this moment he was even paler than that. He was like moonlight or snow.

“Let go!” Loki freed himself with a jerk and simultaneously shoved the Asgardian away. His teeth were bared and a snarl curled his lips.

He had to leave now. It was too soon, but he felt it happening. The dreaded second phase of his heat was approaching ahead of its usual schedule. He needed his potion before it was in full-swing or the effectiveness would be reduced. Loki couldn’t take such a risk again. He didn’t have time to be pregnant or to care for a child right now.

Besides, he refused to have some random dog impregnate him. He swore next time it would be planned with the father chosen ahead of time. Loki loved his children but his forced separation from them still stung to this day. Even though he was no longer under Odin’s thumb, he couldn’t help but be wary. It was better to avoid pregnancy altogether. 

The raven-haired god readied his power, and he was relieved when he didn’t feel any nausea. He still had time. All he had to do was get out of the building and away from the metal head’s anti-teleportation technology that was keeping him trapped like a caged bird. This wouldn’t be an issue if he was at full power.

“Out of my way, fool.” Loki marched past the hammer-bearer, determined to return to his abode where he could curl up in his fluffy bed with a good wine and a scroll. He would reread his favorite spell series, then think up new and delightful ways to torture the blond simpleton. Yes, that sounded like a wonderful plan.

Thor grabbed his bare hand. Fire burst from his belly and through his veins. His knees buckled as he was overwhelmed by his surging hormones.

Loki’s skin bled into an icy blue. His helmet fell from his head as two horns sprouted from the front of his temples, more elegant than even the curved gold of his signature helm. The roots of his hair was the color of frost. “Let go!” he screamed, red eyes like twin fire opals flashing with their own light.

Thor’s reaction was instant and without thought. Mjolnir flew to his hand and his face scowled. “Beast!”

Hulk’s roar shook the room, but Loki didn’t register it at all. His vision was filled with golden Thor’s disgust.

An icy blast slammed into the Asgardian and bashed him against the charging Hulk, smashing both of them through the far wall and several walls after it.

Hawkeye already had an arrow drawn, but Captain America stopped him from firing. “Move it, Cap,” the sniper snapped.  
“No,” the tri-color soldier responded. “I know he’s normally our enemy, but now isn’t the time for this. He didn’t attack, he defended.”  
“You can’t be serious,” the bowman protested with growing anger. “I don’t care he’s on his period, he’s Loki!”  
“And a minor who was brought here for medical attention.”  
“Don’t say it like that,” Hawkeye yammered. “You make it sound bad!”

Iron Man shook his head at the scene. “That escalated quickly.” He looked over at Loki, ready to crack a snarky remark but cut himself off. He knew, if asked, that he would deny seeing tear-filled eyes and wet cheeks. He would also deny noticing shaking shoulders as dark hair faded to cotton white. The man’s…teen’s arm was still stretched out, the whole limb trembling. The boy looked beyond hurt.

Natasha held a hand out to Loki. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Whether out of pride or shock, the Horned Prince didn’t take her hand. At another of Hulk’s room-shaking roars, Loki climbed to his feet with the grace of a dancer then booked it out of there like a gazelle. He didn’t even bother to grab his helmet.

“I’ll go after him,” Tony stated. “You three distract Thor. JARVIS, ask Hulk what he wants for dinner.” He flew off to catch up with the runaway Jotun.

It turned out that the armored man didn’t have to go far. A few halls and he found Loki half slumped against a wall, holding himself and shaking. He purposefully walked with a heavy step so the noise would alert the teen to his presence. “Is the pain back?” It was a stupid question. Even if he was cramping again, the emotional blow he took was more painful by a long shot. But it gave the kid an out in order to save what was left of his pride.

“Go away,” Loki growled as he pushed off of the wall. “Why would you care?” It had been rhetorical, but he received an answer at the same time Iron Man maneuvered under an arm to help support his weight.  
“Because even I’m not that much of a jerk.”

“You humans are infuriating.”  
“So are you teenagers,” Tony retorted.

Loki almost seemed to smile.

When they reached the terrace, Stark stepped away from the Jotun. “This is a one-time only get out of jail free card, kid. Next time you’re getting shipped off to SHIELD.”  
“I’m not a kid,” Loki corrected.  
“Yes and no,” he commented back. “You okay to go from here?”

Red eyes closed as Loki pulled in a deep breath. No nausea and the pain was minimal. “Yes.”

In a swirl of magic he disappeared. 

~*~

Loki groaned as he finally returned to his homestead. Today had been absolutely awful. There was awful, then there was AWFUL. This was that one. This horrid day was staying at the top of his Most Hated list for the next eternity AT LEAST.

He rubbed his cramping abdomen, the teleport hadn’t been good on him, and he went straight to his laboratory. First matters first, he needed his let’s-not-get-fucking-pregnant-again potion.

Several minutes later found the orange elixir made and drunk. It tasted as horrid as usual, like Thor’s burnt socks had a baby with the Hulk’s feet, but it was better than the alternative.

Loki rinsed his mouth with wine to kill the taste as he went about locking himself away, and alone, for the duration of his breeding cycle. Normally he didn’t take things as far as dismissing his servants for an impromptu vacation, but thanks to that rock troll of a blond buffoon he had no choice.

He stopped when he came by a decorative mirror on one of his corridor walls. His red eyes stood out in stark contrast to his blue skin.  
He remembered Thor’s expression when he saw him like this.

The mirror shattered under Loki’s fist, and his anguished cry echoed throughout the empty halls.

**Author's Note:**

> [Want to stay updated on my art and stories?](http://dawneastpoint.deviantart.com/journal/Check-Here-for-my-Updates-638603365)  
>  It'll be two steps because I'm not allowed to mention my personal blog on here.


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